Mr. Griffith has done it again. Has almost made another "Birth
of a Nation" -- but not quite. Nevertheless, "America"
is an epic film and one of the greatest thrill pictures ever made.
If you miss this picture, you miss something worth while -- something
that will not only give you a greater appreciation of motion pictures,
but something that will make you pause and gaze with added reverence
the next time you see an American flag.

No period in our history is so rich in romance as the struggle
for independence, and this is the period chosen by Mr. Griffith,
with a story by Robert W. Chambers.

He has caught the spirit of our forefathers as we conceived
it, and transferred it to the screen in such a way that you glory
in being an American.

The first part of the picture treats of the causes of the Revolution
and the events leading up to the battles of Lexington, Concord
and Bunker Hill. Nothing has ever been thrown on the screen that
surpasses the ride of Paul Revere to arouse the Middlesex villagers
and farmers.

In the second part of the picture, Mr. Griffith, realizing
that it was impossible to tell the story of the Revolutionn in
any one or any dozen pictures, has selected phases of it that
vividly depict the sacrifices of the patriots in the struggle.

Notable figures of the American Revolution are presented, including
Wshington, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, Samuel Evans and King
George III, and into it all he has interwoven a charming love
story of the daughter of a Virginian Tory (Carol Dempster) and
a young patriotic leader (Neil Hamilton).

Mr. Hamilton is pushed to stardom, and Miss Dempster does the
best work of her screen career.

The motion picture "America" ranks among the three
or four truly great films of the cinema's brief history. D.W.
Griffith has again reminded the world with an emphatic gesture
that he is the chief of all American directors, and supreme artist
of great canvases.

It is no coincidence that "The Birth of a Nation,"
"The Covered Wagon" and "America" have all
dealt with epochal periods in this nation's history. The screen
is ideally fitted for the portrayal of gigantic themes, and American
directorial genius is naturally superlatively inspired by that
which is greatly American.

The Revolution and the troublous times which preceded and followed
it was one of the most dramatic eras in all man's annals. It was
a time of passions, tragedies and the vast, stern gaiety of the
liberated human spirit.

With extraordinary force Griffith has brought that national
emotion to the screen. The Revolution has been reproduced with
such perfection of mood and detail that the spectator feels himself
literally experiencing much of the action and sentiment that accompanied
it.

An unbelievable wealth of material and incident has been spent
to make the picture really epic in quality. There is, of necessity,
occasional frailty of continuity, but the marvel on the whole
is that "America" holds together at all. For it does.

A charming romance between a Virginia patrician girl and a
Boston plough-boy winds its way indissolubly through the sequence
of historical scenes. The Battle of Lexington and Concord, Bunker
Hill, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Cornwallis'
surrender, and the storming of Fort Sacrifice are but a few of
the events which have been brought, with marvelous fidelity and
drama, to the screen.

Nothing, however is introduced with the crudity of a pageant.
Each historic occurrence is brought forward only as it concerns
the characters of the story. Their human, poignantly personal
tragedies serve as allegories of the nation's woes.

But it is vain to attempt to do justice to the perfection of
Griffith's direction, whether demonstrated in the performance
of a delicate love scene or a mighty battle.

The spectator is caught up in an emotional cyclone which deposits
him, three hours later, gasping back again in a time which, for
the nonce, has ceased to exist - the present.

The acting responsibilities fall upon Carol Dempster, Lionel
Barrymore and Neil Hamilton. Each is incomparably fine. Barrymore,
in a remarkably interesting part, is brilliantly decisive and
forceful. Miss Dempster convinces us, after duly calm consideration,
that she is the one finely gifted and really beautiful woman on
the screen.

It is needless to advise you to see "America." We
might make ourselves useful, however, by suggesting a second and
a third, and perhaps a fourth trip to it. You will tire of it
only when you tire of romance in its greatest sense.